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20th Anniversary of Deadly Attack on UN HQ in Iraq
By PRO IUNVA A commemoration ceremony was held on 19 Aug 2023 to mark the 20th anniversary of the truck bomb attack on 19 Aug 2003 on the UN Headquarters at the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, Iraq that killed 22 people including the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello…
Cpl. Watters – Congo
Patrick Eugene Watters formerly of Crossmaglen, County Armagh joined the Irish Defence Forces in March 1960. Corporal Watters served with the 5th Infantry Battalion (Dublin) and remained in service until resigning from the Army reserves in March 1965. During his military career he took part in overseas duty during two of the United Nations (ONUC)…
Elisabethville Congo 1961 Article 2 of 3
The is the second article to cover the deaths of 36 Inf Bn personnel in Elisabethville in Dec 1961. The first article on the deaths of Irishmen during Operation Unokat mentioned the wounding of Sgt Patrick Mulcahy and four men from A Coy 36 Inf Bn by shrapnel from mortar fire that killed Cpl Michael…
The Kindu Atrocity – Massacre of Thirteen Italian Air Force Personnel in the Congo in Nov 1961
In this article we look at one incident that happened sixty years ago in the Congo in Nov 1961 when Italy suffered thirteen casualties in a mass murder in what has been called the Kindu Massacre. This event shows that UN peacekeepers who might not be considered to be on the frontline were open to…
Ministerial Review – 123 Inf Bn UNIFIL – 01/11/2023
By PRO IUNVA An Tánaiste, Minister for Defence and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin, TD reviewed personnel of 123 Inf Bn at Kilkenny Castle on Tuesday, 31Oct 2023, the unit will shortly deploy to Lebanon for service with UNIFIL. In his address, An Tánaiste had special words for the families of the personnel: “On…
First Chaplin to the Defence Forces to Serve Overseas
By PRO IUNVA This article recalls the service of the first DF chaplain who deployed on overseas service with the United Nations in Jul 1960. Fr Cyril Patrick Crean was known as Fr Paddy and he was ordained in Rome in 1933. He worked in Harold’s Cross in Dublin before he joined the British Army…